WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Seriously, talk about some news that was swept under the rug over the last couple of days out in San Jose. Probably because I typically fail at checking in on the expansion club from time to time. But the front office of the San Jose Earthquake are probably beside themselves this week with the news that forward Peguero Jean Philippe is being placed on the season-ending injury list, meaning that his loan from Danish side Brondby is over.

Yeah, just like that his season is over.

The reason given by the Quakes for Jean Philippe’s ouster is that his right knee, which underwent reconstructive surgery back in 2006, could not withstand the rigors of MLS, with continued swelling preventing the Haitian from playing on a consistent basis.

“So we were willing to take a risk on that. It’s just unfortunate that his knee didn’t hold up,” said General Manager John Doyle.

Some interesting questions can be raised from this news. Of course some will wonder about the price the Quakes will be paying in terms of salary in this.

But the main thing is concerning the all important issue of where they will fall on the allocation list now. I’m a little torn on that subject though. The fair thing for the league is to keep them where they are at, and that is at the bottom. They used their move and it proved to be a costly one. I know the player didn’t stick it out for the season but is it really fair to the other clubs that the move didn’t work out?

Jeff Carlisle had reported that the Quakes did indeed not lose their place:

Doyle did add that San Jose did not lose their place in the pecking order for former MLS players wanting to return to the league. The Quakes had first dibs on Jean Philippe when he returned to MLS, and had the Haitian stuck around, they would have moved to the bottom of that list. Now that Jean Philippe is gone, that is no longer the case.

Well, it turns out the Quakes will be moved to the bottom of the list.

“When Jean Philippe put pen to paper, the Quakes automatically moved to the bottom of the allocation list that is used when former MLS players return to the league from overseas. But when Jean Philippe was put on the season-ending injury list earlier this week…”

“With MLS headquarters saying otherwise, I called up Doyle to clarify his remarks, at which point he apologized and admitted that what he told me on Tuesday was not correct. ”I misspoke a bit,” said Doyle. “No excuses.”

Obviously this move will haunt this club for the remainder of the season. Unless they put some deals in place with other clubs they won’t be able to move up the list anytime soon if some high profile players decide to come across the sea to play in MLS.

Tough break but that is the cost of using allocation in MLS these days. Toronto is still the top dog on the list and are in line for a big pay day either way.

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